This invention relates generally to tanks for containing fluids, and relates more particularly to fluid tanks, such as vehicular fuel tanks, designed to minimize fluid loss in the event of damage and/or improper orientation.
Present fluid tanks, if punctured or damaged, will typically leak all of the fluid inside the tank to the surrounding environment. Further, if the tanks are tipped on their side or otherwise improperly oriented, loss of fluid may result from flow of fluid out of tank apertures such as breathers or air vents. Such fluid loss may represent substantial health, safety, and environmental hazards particularly where the fluid tank contains large amounts of highly combustible fuel or where the fluid tank contains toxic substances.
For example, punctures or damage to any portion of a vehicular fuel tank may result in the loss of its entire contents, thus endangering the safety of the vehicle passengers, the general public, emergency personnel and/or the environment. Where a fuel tank is not punctured but rather tipped on one of its sides, as may occur when a locomotive derails or a vehicle turns on a side, fuel may escape through tank air vents.
Other problems exist where vehicles or systems require distributed fluid tanks or have multiple fluid tanks which contain the same type of fluid. For example, typical locomotive fuel tanks have one or more filling ports, and have a suction line which provides fuel to the engine, and a return line from the engine which brings the excess, unburned fuel back to the fuel tank. Generally, such distributed or multiple tanks, are connected by fluid channels such that a leak in one tank causes all of the tanks to be drained. Consequently, there exists a need for a fluid tank capable of minimizing fluid loss and having distributed fluid compartments which may be filled simultaneously from one or more fill points.